


Leo & Kane

by 230W49thSt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Attempt at Humor, International Fanworks Day, Lance Doesn't Know What Fanfiction Is, M/M, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), So They Explain It To Him Using His Favorite TV Show And Also Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 02:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17799467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/230W49thSt/pseuds/230W49thSt
Summary: "Enemies to lovers trope?" Lance repeats with squinted eyes."Yeah. It's when two characters hate each other or are some kind of enemies or rivals but have to work together as a team.""Ha!" Lance exclaims, happy to have finally understood something, or at least a part of it, "you mean like me and Keith!"There's a brief but heavy silence before Pidge releases a burst of nervous laughter.--Oblivious Lance doesn't know what fanfiction is and his friends aren't very helpful.





	Leo & Kane

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this very quickly for International Fanworks Day because fanfiction means the world to me and I'm sure a lot of you can relate.  
> Also: **Klance.**
> 
> Thanks to all the writers (and beta-readers) for sharing their stories, dabbles, headcanons etc., artists who draw fanart, people who record podfics, cosplayer, podcaster, people who create fanvids, gifsets, edits, playlists, moodboards or organize fandom events. All the things! Special thanks to all the comic creators on Instagram, you are a _blessing._  
>  And thanks to everyone who support creators, be it with kind words, likes, reblogs, kudos, by commissioning, joining their patreon, buying their products and so on. You are awesome.

## Leo & Kane

Flying through space without a troubling mission in the back of their heads is a relaxing thing when they do it for a few days. After three weeks of being stuck in the same orbit of the same planet, thanks to some scientific nonsense Lance doesn’t quite understand, the vacation-like feeling turns into boredom.

It’s late in the afternoon – at least it feels like it – when some of the paladins find themselves in the lounge, trying to come up with fun things to do that might help them to pass the massive amount of time that still lies ahead of them.

Pidge sits with crossed legs in the middle of the couch, the laptop in her lap. She’s been scrolling through some old folders she'd uploaded when she was still on Earth to find some games to play for over an hour already but nothing interesting has popped up yet. An offline version of Robot Unicorn Attack is the only game she’s found so far but everyone’s started yelling at her when she refused to turn off the game‘s song that repeats itself countless times while playing.

“In _my part_ of planet Earth Erasure is a cult band and y‘all don‘t know what‘s good,“ Pidge grumbles but quits the game nevertheless.

Hunk rests at her right side, leaning heavily against the armrest. His eyelids are half-closed and a fine line of drool escapes his mouth every time he takes a breath.

“Stay awake,” Pidge murmurs. She gives him a nudge that startles him for a moment but doesn’t keep him awake for longer than ten seconds.

“Let him sleep,” Lance grunts lazily from her other side. “I wish I could sleep. My boredom keeps me awake.” His eyes flicker to Keith who sits in the armchair opposite of him looking sternly at the book he’s reading. “Your mullet keeps me awake, too.” With his feet, he kicks against Keith’s hand and effectively makes the red paladin drop the book.

The tiredness of Keith shines brightly when the usually restless man keeps staring at the book lying on the floor for some long seconds before he looks up at Lance.

“Funny,” he states emotionlessly. Lance shrugs as if it had been an accident.

“What are you reading anyway?”

Slowly Keith reaches down, grabs the book and puts it back on his lap without revealing the cover.

“A story Pidge gave me.”

“Oh, which one?” the young girl asks and tries to glimpse at the book cover. “The fluffy one or the--” she wiggles her eyebrows, “the other one.”

Keith’s facial expression gives nothing away, he looks like a marble figure.

“Fine, say no more, it’s the other one.” A smile spreads on her face. “I mean, I don’t read that kind of stuff but it’s good, isn’t it?”

Keith clears his throat.

“It’s alright,” he says with some hesitation. He runs his finger through his hair, making sure his bangs cover as much of his face as possible.

“What is it then?” Lance’s curious eyes switch between his two friends. “Some lame motorbike story?”

“Leave him be. Oh my God,“ Pidge whispers in awe, her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her, „I found the folder.“

Lance brings his attention back to her.

„What folder?“

„The fanfiction folder.“

A single loud snore erupts next to them and Hunk wakes up with a jolt.

„Did someone say fanfiction?“ He wipes away the drool on his chin and scoots closer to Pidge.

„What the quiznak is fanfiction?“ Lance asks desperately. „Why is no one telling me anything anymore?“

Keith chuckles quietly but keeps otherwise occupied with his book. Hunk‘s eyes widen at Lance's face being a big question mark.

„You don‘t know about fanfiction?“ he whispers and covers his mouth with one hand. „May I have the honor, Pidge?“

„Sure.“

Hunk straightens his back and takes a deep breath.

„Fanfiction, my dearest friend, is the most precious thing. You know that TV show you like so much? What‘s it called? That one with the hunter who becomes the hunted?“

„It‘s literally called _The Hunter_ , Hunk,“ Lance says in bewilderment, „it‘s not that hard to remember.“

„Alright, alright! You got the special agent called Leo whose mission is to hunt down that dude called Kane because Kane works against the government. And just before Leo manages to catch him, this sick twist with the shark happens. Now Kane is the one hunting down Leo.”

“ _So the hunter becomes the hunted_ ,“ Lance quotes smugly. „The sexiest line ever uttered on television.“

Hunk stares at him blankly before he continues. “And in the latest season, they suddenly have to work together because Leo finally knows that the government is the true monster. The president has just declared a national emergency to push through his evil agenda and that affects everyone. They are still wary around each other but they have a common enemy and do everything to stop him.“

„I fucking love that they're working together," Lance gushes. "They're always at each other's throats but, boy, the tension is killing me. And Kane's a real bab-- cool, he's a cool guy...dude..." Hunk exchanges a knowing look with Pidge. Lance clears his throat. "But what about fanfiction?“

„Simply said, fanfictions are fictional stories starring those already existing fictional characters but are written by fans for fans," Hunk explains. "They can take place in the same universe as the original story but also in an alternative universe, like, an apocalyptic world. Or at Starbucks.“

„There are a lot of good Kleo fics," Pidge adds, "I‘ve read a lot back at the Garrison."

“Kleo?“

„The ship, Lance. Leo and Kane. The pairing? The two of them together? Romantically? Sexually?"

Lance‘s eyes grow big.

„People write about that? That doesn't happen in the show!“

„That's the point of fanfiction. To write something that didn't happen on the show. Or to change things you didn't like. There are so many reasons to write those kind of stories. I can't believe you've never read Kleo fics. I even wrote one for International Fanworks Day once.“ Hunk shakes his head. „I thought you ship them like mad!“

„Of course, I totally see them having the hot's for each other but I thought that was just me. Also, let‘s be real, Kane is wildly out of Leo‘s league and they're both straight.“

„Are they?“ Pidge says. "Who says that?"

"I think Kane's very obviously gay," Hunk thinks aloud, a finger on his chin, "sure, the show doesn't say it explicitly but the way he's portrayed just makes it very obvious. Also, he's never paired with a female character but has this eerily close bond to this one friend. Though I'm not sure it's meant to be brotherly or just--"

"--gay," Pidge finishes.

"Right."

"And Leo's gotta be bi or pan," she continues, "cause they've shown him genuinely crushing on other female characters. But he gets so flustered around Kane and that can't be the enemy-thing alone. There's this scene where they fight over something and suddenly Leo gets a bit handsy and the fight ends with them being unnecessarily close to each other."

"Wasn't Leo almost lying on top of him? What's your opinion on Leo, Lance?"

Lance worries his lip and stares at empty space.

"I kinda guessed he might be bi but it's weird that K-- Kane is supposed to be the one that made him realize it. I'm not sure..." His mumbled words trail off.

"I have a few Kleo fics on my laptop that you can check out," Pidge says happily. "Okay, understatement, I got more than two hundred. Just tell me what you‘re looking for?“

„I don't even know," Lance sighs. "I don't think I get the concept. I mean, what are these stories even about?"

"I'll explain. Maybe we should start with one in the canon universe, one that focusses on the enemies to lovers trope. I mean the original show already covers half of it," Pidge opens several documents to read through the tags.

"Enemies to lovers trope?" Lance repeats with squinted eyes.

"Yeah. It's when two characters hate each other or are some kind of enemies or rivals but have to work together as a team."

"Ha!" Lance exclaims, happy to have finally understood something, or at least a part of it, "you mean like me and Keith!"

There's a brief but heavy silence before Pidge releases a burst of nervous laughter.

"Ummm, well, kind of." She sends Hunk a helpless but amused look.

"I'm not sure you've already understood the point of these kinds of fanfics, Lance," Hunk says carefully. "It's --"

"No, actually," Pidge interrupts him with a shit-eating grin, "we can work with that." She ignores the aghast look on Hunk's face. "You and Keith were rivals. Well, according to you at least. And then you had to work together because Voltron needed both of you as its paladins. But what if you hadn't met at the Garrison and the rivalry had never been a thing. What if you'd met in, I don't know, maybe a coffee shop?"

"I don't drink coffee."

"So then you're the barista and Keith orders a coffee. What happens next?"

"I...serve the coffee?" Lance asks with a frown.

"Would you talk to him?"

"No? I wouldn't know him."

"Alright," Pidge says and clasps her hands, "but look, Keith comes in every single day ordering the same cup of coffee. And he wears a The Hunter fandom shirt. Sure there'd be small-talk at one point. The coffee shop's almost empty, barely any customers, just you two..."

"I guess," Lance says with a shrug.

Then he turns around. Keith's still sitting on the armchair, his eyes almost comedically fixed on the book's page without blinking once. His lips are pressed together and he looks tense. Lance tilts his head. "I don't actually hate you, mullet, you know that, right?"

Keith slowly raises his eyes, the rest of his face still stony.

"Sure," he presses out and looks back down.

"I'd probably talk to you at one point in a coffee shop but only because I'm a decent person."

"I don't know what you're all talking about at the moment, I just want to read, please." Lance misses the blush that spreads on Keith's cheeks when he turns back to Pidge and Hunk.

"Okay, but imagine it's Leo serving coffee and Kane walking in."

"Oh fuck, they'd make out in the supply closet within a matter of seconds."

Hunk lets out a whimper but Pidge nudges him to stay quiet.

"But they haven't met each other yet, just like, um, you and Keith."

"Sure, but there's this tension between them right from the beginning."

"Okay, explain," Pidge says eagerly and earns a disapproving head shake from Hunk.

Lance is back in his fanboy element.

"Okay, here's how it goes. Leo would probably mix up the coffee orders because, hell, who wouldn't? I probably would. And then Kane would yell at him and they would stare at each other, foreheads pressed together and there's this tension between them every time they talk and argue until someone breaks them apart. You watched the show, Pidge, you know they're always bickering about something like an old married couple."

"Yeah," Pidge agrees with a way too bright smile on her face, "they do that a lot. It's stressful to witness this tension all the time, _isn't it_ , Lance? Because you just want to shake their shoulders and yell _kiss each other, you know you want to_ but it doesn't happen." Hunk tries to suppress a chuckle.

"Remember that scene at the beginning of the season?" he quickly says. "When they've just started working together and Kane saves Leo's life but Leo claims he can't remember it because he got hit on his head?"

"That was sad," Lance agrees with hunched shoulders, "they would have bonded so much quicker."

"Oh, Leo remembers."

Everyone's eyes dart towards Keith.

"What do you mean, Leo remembers?" Lance asks him incredulously. "He said he didn't."

Keith loudly snaps his book shut and stares at him. Anger flashes through his eyes.

"Well, he lied."

"No, oh, no, no," Lance sputters, "he did NOT!" He points at his own head. "Concussion!"

Keith points at the blue paladin.

"He's a liar."

"Concussion!"

"Liar!"

"CONCUSSION!"

"LIAR!"

"GUYS!" Hunk shouts and waves with his arms. "Stop it. We can talk about it like reasonable beings, we're not on a social media platform founded in 2007!"

Keith's still leaning heavily in Lance's direction and Lance has pushed himself towards Keith, his angry eyes and aggression directed at the paladin a few inches away.

"Guys!"

Keith blinks first and gets a loud "HA!" from Lance. "I win!" The red paladin snorts, leans back in his chair and folds his arms.

"Let's sort this out, shall we? Everyone gets the time to say something." Hunk offers diplomatically. "Keith, you start. Why do you think Leo lied?"

"Because he's a coward."

"I'm -- He's not a coward!" Lance interrupts him and Hunk throws his arms up in defeat. "Don't you dare talk about my boy Leo that way!"

"Well, I kinda agree with Keith here," Hunk says slowly and immediately earns an unfriendly glare from Lance. "Leo acted really weird when Kane mentioned it. If he truly didn't remember, that scene wouldn't have been that awkward."

"Pff, even if Leo remembers - _and I don't say he does!_ \- then Kane has to accept that he doesn't want to talk about it. It's weird when the one who's supposed to be your rival, um, enemy, suddenly saves your life or even protects you. That's confusing, alright? Especially if one suddenly feels weirdly drawn to said ex-enemy. Not that I can relate but I'm a very empathetic person, okay?"

Keith silently shakes his head and makes his point by staring into his book again. Hunk sits back down and exhales audibly.

“Moving on!” he announces loudly. He pulls the laptop off Pidge’s lap and ignores the disappointed look from the youngest paladin. “Fluff! Now that’s more my thing. And domestic fics. Just give me cute everyday scenarios without a big monster or some sad destiny looming over them.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Lance grimaces. “Are there stories about characters organizing bookshelves or vacuuming the living room?”

Hunk shrugs. “Well, maybe. Domestic fics are stories without the stress the characters usually would have.”

“But who wants to read that?”

“I’m sure it’s not necessarily interesting watching me and Hunk washing the dishes," Pidge says, "but just imagine, um, totally unrelated example, you and Keith.”

Lance huffs. “Where’s the difference?”

"Hunk and me? Peaceful. Quiet. Efficient. You and Keith? A mess. And that's what makes it fun."

"Excuse me, we function very well in stressful situations, tell them, Keith! Like when we trapped the ships in that one Galra hangar!"

"Reading, not listening!" the red paladin hisses exasperatedly.

"I was actually saying something nice about you but okay."

"I'm slightly worried that you made it sound as if washing the dishes and breaking into Galra ships is on the same stress level."

"You've never been to the McClains household during a holiday when the dishwasher's broken, Hunk." He shudders. "It gets ugly."

"Guys," Pidge gets back into the conversation, "I found a good one. A story about Leo and Kane stuck in an elevator."

"Lance and I got stuck in an elevator once," Keith mentions absentmindedly and turns a page of his book.

Lance's strangled noise gets drowned by Hunk's and Pidge's exclamations. The yellow and green paladins lean forward to stare at Keith, prompting him to keep talking.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Pidge yells in delight and ignores an upset Lance next to her. "I wanna know everything."

"Excuse me?" Hunk waves his hand to get Keith's attention. "When was that and why don't we know about that?"

"Keith..." Lance growls with a warning note in his voice.

Keith calmly closes the book in his hand and looks up. "A few weeks ago. We were on our way to the pool."

Pidge raises a hand. "Don't tell me you were already in shorts."

"Is that important?" Keith asks and blinks his eyes. "But yes, we were."

"Keith, stop it."

"What's the matter, Lance? It's hilarious," Hunk laughs. "What happened next?"

Keith tilts his head, his eyes flickering to Lance for a second. "The door closed, the elevator started moving, the usual."

"Keith, I swear, I will murder you."

"Jeez, Lance, what's wrong with you?" Pidge raises her eyebrows. "Chill, buddy. Let Keith talk."

"Suddenly the elevator stopped. And then--"

"Stop talking NOW, Keith!"

"-- the lights went out -- "

Suddenly Lance jumps up from the couch to stand in front of Keith, making wild hand gestures, more or less trying to block him from his friends on the couch.

"DON'T! NO! STOP! KEITH!"

"-- it was pitch-black around us --"

Lance cries out with a high-pitched noise and launches himself forward. He topples over the armrest almost into Keith's lap, desperately trying to press his hands against his mouth to make him shut up. The red paladin easily pushes Lance's hands aside and continues as if Lance is just a minor nuisance.

"-- and after a few moments that felt like hours --"

"KEITH! NO! STOP! THAT'S ENOUGH! YOU WIN!"

"-- the lights turn back on and we climb out."

There's a deafening silence in the room.

"Um."

"I really don't think it was that dramatic, Lance," Keith says softly, his hands still holding Lance's wrists in place.

"What the fuck was that about?" Pidge asks with a furrowed brow.

"Nothing, it's -- nothing," Lance stammers. "Just a stressful experience. Claustrophobic. Didn't want to relive it."

When Keith lets go of Lance's wrists, the blue paladin realizes that he's still awkwardly sitting on Keith's lap.

"I'm just gonna--" he mumbles and retreats very carefully, his eyes avoiding Keith who observes him with a smirk lingering on his face. Lance points at the door. "I have a thing to do." Without looking back he bolts through the door into the hallway. He doesn't know where he's going, just mindlessly wandering about when suddenly he hears footsteps behind him. Someone is catching up with him.

"That was for making me drop my book."

Lance whirls around.

"I almost died in there," he snaps, "I thought you were about to tell them! You can't just--"

"I'm not the one with the problem to talk about us," Keith says quietly. "It was _you_ who kissed me in the elevator."

"I told you, I panicked and got claustrophobic!"

"And that makes you kiss people? You know, actually, that makes a lot of sense now." Keith folds his arms across his chest.

"It-- it does?"

"Remember two weeks ago when I was cleaning Red and you accidentally flounced inside because, quote-unquote _Whoops, I thought it was Blue_?"

Lance hums. "Well, they are all lions."

"Except that Blue is bigger and well, the color makes a good distinction," Keith says sarcastically. "And I guess because Red's cockpit is a lot smaller than Blue's, you got a bit claustrophobic again."

"I don't know what you mean," Lance breathes.

"Of course you don't. And last week when we were cleaning the cryopods and you jumped me? Was it the close proximity to narrow confined spaces that triggered your--"

"I did NOT jump you, I stumbled."

"And landed on my mouth?"

"That's not--"

"For like 5 minutes?"

Lance stays quiet, his breathing getting shallow as he watches Keith talk.

"And, yesterday, when I was about to hit the training deck and you pulled me wordlessly inside that small storeroom?"

Finally, Lance's stoic face crumbles and a blush spread on his nose and cheeks. Weakly he leans his shoulder against the wall.

"To my defense, I always get very enthusiastic consent vibes from you."

"Solid observation."

Lance snickers nervously at Keith's warm smile.

"I guess we should talk?" He scratches his neck and takes a deep breath. "Wanna go in my room?"

"Depends." Keith raises one eyebrow. "Do you consider your room a small place?"

"Um. Maybe." Lance's eyes slowly take in Keith's face. The bangs that cover parts of his face, his purplish eyes, his nose, and fine cheekbones, his chin, his lips. "Actually," Lance admits and exhales audibly, "it's probably the smallest place of all of them."

Keith grins smugly. Then he leans forward and softly presses his lips at the corner of Lance's mouth.

"To ease the panic," he explains.

Lance's mouth opens slightly, then he points at his lips.

"I know that I'm the sharpshooter of the team but your bad aiming is alarming. What if--"

Keith chuckles as he closes the space between them again, kissing the pout off of Lance's mouth until they're both smiling.

"Let's go."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Lance not liking coffee is my favorite headcanon and Keith was totally reading smut. Also I really wanna watch that tv show now, lmao.


End file.
